Party People at Berkeley Rep

What would the world look like if everyone demanded honest history: that is to say, the truth?

I treasure this play because, finally, that is what the people involved in its creation decided is the best legacy to leave the young, the best reality to share among ourselves. I saw a review that considered the production ”Flawed But Riveting;” I immediately thought how that description fits humanity.

At the beginning of the first act the frenetic dance and loud music seems much to bear, also the display of guns. Later it becomes clearer that we are being prepared, watching the play, to separate individuals from images of them created by or captured by a media that can never affirm the hopeful and caring, not infrequently naive, but deeply loving heart of the revolutionary in confrontation with a merciless state.

Hardest to watch is how Black Panthers and Young Lords alike were broken; how they were undermined by the FBI and by their own Machismo. How they, who stood so tall, fell into moral slumps and brain scrambled contortions brought on by drugs. How they brutalized one another as their revolutionary love turned to suspicion, hatred and despair.

The directing is brilliant, all the actors are amazing, and the choreography is superb. It was my luck to sit next to the choreographer on opening night and I was able to tell her how sensational I thought her work and how extraordinary her perfume!